Tech tools that can help musicians in 2021

While musicians, especially those who thrive in the live space, struggle to make their mark during these tough times, new opportunities have emerged with a shift in focus towards online marketing and promotion. And with the technology at our disposal, the tools available can do a better job than what was previously possible.

Music In Africa has compiled a list of tools – ranging from online marketing services to video editing applications and more – to help musicians create content like lyric videos, boost engagement, build fan bases and advance their careers. More importantly, the below tools won’t break the bank, and could fill the void occasioned by restrictions on gatherings.

Spot On Track analytics tool

With the live industry brought to a halt, radio has taken a crucial role in introducing new music to audiences while simultaneously bringing musicians to fans. Understanding the markets that rely on the broadcast medium can increase artists’ fans bases and income streams through public performance royalties. Spot On Track’s service can help in this regard. The app first emerged as a tool used to track data, charts and playlists on Spotify and Apple Music, but the platform now includes radio data monitoring from more than 6 000 stations and 116 countries. The tool offers an initial two-week free trial. Users can then sign up to the Pro account, which tracks up to 10 artists, songs or albums for €6.99 (about $9.60) a month, while for €9.99 per month, users can monitor a maximum of 250 artists, tracks or albums.

Alternative tools: Soundcharts, Chartmetric.

Musosoup public relations platform

Musosoup offers unsigned artists direct access to music blogs, playlists, stations, podcasts and influencers, among others, at a reduced cost than engaging a traditional PR service. The platform won’t provide typical big-media exposure, but it’s a great way for emerging artists to get some initial press, feedback and quotes. Musosoup’s team reviews all music submitted by artists to ensure a high-quality quality product to get better press coverage. All submissions that meet the company’s standards will be sent out to the platform’s network of blogs and writers, who in turn will get in touch with the artist should they want to feature them. Musicians can select the £15-per-submission option and pay no additional costs if they receive any offers. Alternatively, artists can choose the Coverage Plus option, which comes with additional costs if any offers come to fruition.  

Alternative tool: SubmitHub.

SyncFloor synchronisation platform

SyncFloor is a sync marketplace that gives users the ability to search a database of songs via ‘natural language’ such as emotions and specific qualities. Users can find music from catalogue partners like Believe, TuneCore and Communion. Independent artists, labels, publishers and distributors of any size can sign up to the service and become a catalogue partner for free, but the platform takes a 10% cut on completed sync licences. Each catalogue partner receives a SyncStore and a custom branded storefront that is linked to that catalogue. Your storefront can then be integrated into your own domain. 

Kwettr online marketing tool

Kwettr, which is owned by Dutch record label Black Hole Recordings, is a free online artist marketing platform that specialises in unlock and messaging tools for social media, smart marketing and data analytics with the aim of strengthening artist-fan relationships, and increasing reach and more revenue for artists and record labels. Features on the platform include direct message campaigns, influencer marketing, smart links and reports designed to help artists and labels understand the online strategies of their contemporaries.

Alternative tool: Feed. 

Later content scheduling tool

Later is a free content scheduling tool that is great for social media strategy. With video content, still images and hashtags, the application simplifies the process of scheduling daily posts across a number of platforms, including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. 

DaVinci Resolve video editing tool

DaVinci Resolve is free video editor that is fast becoming popular in the entertainment industry. The application offers similar features to Adobe Premiere with a better user interface at no cost. It provides strong visuals and images that can help promote a song, and makes it easy to create lyric videos, visualisers, TikTok clips, Instagram Stories and Spotify Canvas clips, among others. Users can also create and edit music videos.

Alternative tool: Adobe Premiere. 

Canva graphics tool

Canva is a powerful graphic design tool that can be easily used by beginners to make stunning images. The free-tier membership provides users with access to thousands of great templates and allows for unlimited uploads. Musicians can use this tool to create online brands, thumbnails for YouTube and concert posters.